This invention relates to a holdback device for holding a door or gate in a selected open or closed position. More particularly the invention relates to a holdback device for holding doors of a highway cargo trailer in an open position.
Highway trailers of conventional design are provided with hinged doors at various positions along the sides and at the rear of the trailer. These doors, which are generally pivotally mounted about vertical axes, are provided with handles and/or locking rods extending therefrom. It is also usual to provide means to secure the doors in an open position for loading and unloading operations and while the trailer is being manoeuvred to and from a loading dock or the like. Numerous devices have been described in the general and patent literature for this purpose, and, for the purposes of illustration only, attention is drawn to U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,439 issued May 26, 1981 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,326 issued Dec. 28, 1993. These devices generally require a mechanical bracket secured to the sidewall of the trailer and a latch mechanism secured to the hinged door. These devices generally protrude considerably from the sidewall and the latch mechanism usually fails to provide xe2x80x9cfail-safexe2x80x9d locking with the result that the latch and bracket can become detached by vibration while travelling over rough terrain such as a potholed yard, or by reason of a strong wind gust. This may result in the door slamming shut causing damage to the door frame or to the door itself, or swinging in the wind and causing damage to adjacent vehicles. Major trucking companies report that the problem of insecure doors costs many of thousands of dollars in damage repairs each year. There is, therefore, a need for an improved locking device for securing vertically hung doors in the open position. While this invention will be described with particular reference to transport vehicles such as tractor-trailer or truck doors, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the devices of the present invention find application to other vertically hung doors or gates, such as farm or factory gates which may be held in either an open or a closed position.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a door or gate retaining device which incorporates a fail-safe mechanism to hold the door or gate in a selected open or closed position.
By one aspect of this invention there is provided a retaining device for securing a planar member, swingable about a vertical axis between an open and a closed position between support members, comprising: (a) plate means, mountable on a selected said support member adjacent a vertical side edge of said planar member, including finger means integrally mounted, at a proximal end thereof, on said plate means, adjacent one end thereof, and extending perpendicularly therefrom and parallel thereto towards a distal end thereof adjacent a second end of said plate means, and bail means transversely pivotally mounted on said plate means intermediate the ends thereof for movement between a first position substantially planar with said plate means and a second position in abutting relation with said finger means intermediate the proximal and distal ends thereof; and (b) an inelastic, elongated flexible member having a proximal end attachable to said planar member adjacent said vertical side edge thereof and a distal end provided with ring means adapted for overlying sliding and removable engagement with the distal end of said finger means.